Sport

PETERBOROUGH 2 SWINDON TOWN 2: Full-time report

SWINDON Town’s battle with Peterborough for a place at Wembley remains firmly in the balance after the two sides drew their JPT area final first leg clash 2-2 at London Road this evening.

Mark Cooper’s Robins battled back from 2-0 down to level the tie thanks to goals from Nile Ranger and an own goal from Shaun Brisley, but had to play nearly an hour with 10 men after Jay McEveley was sent off.

Town held on well and even had chances to win the game but will no doubt be happy to start level when the two teams resume for the second leg.

On a bog of a pitch, Town got off to the worst possible start as Raphael Branco thundered a Posh corner into his own net with Wes Foderingham beaten.

It got worse just five minutes later as Kyle Vassell profited from some awful Town defending to fire through Branco’s legs to double the lead, leaving Mark Cooper’s side on the ropes.

Ranger responded to the standing count as he tucked a shot past Bobby after Yaser Kasim played him through before Town’s task got a lot harder when Jay McEveley was sent off for a foul on Britt Assombalonga which ended both players’ evenings.

Another own goal, this time from Posh defender Brisley, levelled matters at the break.

After the interval Town set up with Dany N’Guessan ordered to patrol the entire left side of the field, a job he did manfully as conditions worsened, as he and his teammates went about negating their numerical disadvantage.

Play was held up for 10 minutes while a fan received medical treatment and left the ground in an ambulance but once the players re-emerged from the tunnel, Town were able to hold firm to maintain parity going into the second leg.